April 16, 2015

So the day has finally come to pass for GTA V to be released for the PC. \o/ I’ve played little on the XB1 so I can’t really compare that to the PC version, but I’ve been playing the 360 for the past 1½ years. Here are some notible diffrences from the 360 and PC versions, other than the obvious performance and graphical improvements.

GTA Online: Your Daily Objectives are separated between your two online characters on PC, which allows you to earn twice the rewards from doing your daily Objectives. Also if you didn’t complete all three of your daily objectives on one character the same objectives carry over into the next day. GTAo on 360, both online characters get the same daily objectives. If you complete your objectives with one character, they also come up as completed on your other character. They both reset to new objectives every 24 hours, regardless if you completed all three or not.

GTA Story Mode: There are no Peyote plants in the PC version, at least I can’t find any using guides and walkthoughs for the PS4/XB1. This is needed to unlock animals for use in Director mode. Unless they are in different locations, they don’t seem to exist or Rockstar forgot to include them?

GTA V: controls are different than 360. This was changed since the PS4/XB1 release. When driving (A) now makes you duck your head down, (RB) is now the hand break. When driving (LB) lets you aim your weapon, but (RB) fires it. Which makes it rather awkward since you’re already holding (RT) to accelerate the car.

GTA V: Off hand grenade throws are now possible (also since PS4/XB1) allowing you to throw a grenade while using your gun. You must have (RT) down to aim your gun, and R-Dpad to toss a grenade in the direction you’re looking. For keyboard it’s [G] to toss a grenade while you have R-mouse button held.

GTA online, the minimap has been changed to a faded/blended border. No longer a hard frame around the mini map. On old-gen consoles you could see a small point at the end of the player’s dot that gave an indication which direction the player is facing, now there is no little tip.

GTA Online (bug): Typing [T] brings up game chat so you can say something to the players in your lobby. The problem is as you type the keys are still bound to commands and actions in the game, so all sorts of menus and commands can be executed depending on the letters you hit when you’re just trying to chat and can really screw things up.

iFruit app: There is no PC platform support in the iFruit app (at least for Android). The only reason you need this anyway is to create custom “Vanity” licence plates for your cars on GTA online. The app doesn’t list PC among the list of platforms which all console version are listed. Even then it’s extremely limited and only shows about 10 of your vehicles (out of 30 you can own in total).

GTA online (bug): The game allows a 15 minute idle timeout before you’re kicked offline for inactivity. If GTA V is minimized this seems to accelerate the idle timeout, and you’ll be kicked out in just a few minutes.

GTA V: No support for 2 monitors. I’ve seen videos of players using up to 3 monitors, but I only have two, and I don’t see the option to extend the game out to more than one monitor. I can only tell it which monitor to output.

GTA V (bug): at some points when navigating the menus, pressing (B) or [Esc] to back out or exit the menus to get back to the game fail to do anything. I have to click around or press (RB) or (LB) first to change to some other menu, and then backing out of the menus will work.

GTA Online: Does the ability to text chat [T] turn off when you have a headset enabled? I cant seem to use [T] nor [Y] to chat. There is also no way to bind “press to talk” on a controller button (like the center dashboard button on the 360 controller would be perfect since it’s not used for anything)

GTA V (Bug): The game has real issues when ALT-Tabing, or when the game no longer has focus. It’s even worsened if you have Steam with it’s Overlay up on screen when you alt-tab away from the game. Most of the time you’re completely unable to alt-tab back into the game. Using windowed or borderless windowed mode helps alleviate this a little bit, but the game defaults to fullscreen mode, and most players prefer fullscreen mode anyway.

This documents the many delays to both the release of GTA V for PC, lastgen consoles, and Online heists as well as significant updates to the game over the past +year. I will not mention verified jobs (except the 1st one), Rockstar/Social Club Events, minor title updates that don’t add new content, screenshots, nor any contests. I combed though the newswire going back nearly four years.

February 24 2015, Release date set for Online heists for March 10th 2015 which keeps with Rockstar’s announcement from December about an “early 2015” release for online heists. Also announced is yet another updated (delayed) release date for PC to April 14th. This is the third delay for PC, with bonus GTA$200,000 in GTA online for people who had already pre-ordered which potentially can add up to $1million for online mode if you ordered it before February 1st.http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/52394/gtav-updates-online-heists-coming-march-10-gtav-for-pc

April 9th 2015, GTA Online PC servers appeared temporarily online on Rockstar’s status page. This lasted about an hour, as it’s no longer shown on the status page. It’s assumed that game revwers got a sneek peek at GTA V and GTA Online since This Link still shows a handful of people playing GTA V on PC via Steam’s database stats and info.https://steamdb.info/app/271590/graphs/

April 14th 2015, Grand Theft Auto V Is Now Available for PC
At 12am midnight GMT, digital downloads were “unlocked” and installing began. The release went off with very few hitches if any. The majority of issues players had effected a few players who had unstable PCs, under powered PCs who made settings too high and ignored the minimum PC specifications released two months earlier. GTA V is quite scaleable, even on a PC at minimum specification with the advanced eye candy disabled, GTA V for PC plays and looks better than it did in it’s original release for the Xbox 360, and PS3, and on a modern gaming PC is the best experience for GTA V, bar none.http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/52417/grand-theft-auto-v-is-now-available-for-pc

So what’s left to wait for now it’s all said and done? GTA V and GTA Online aren’t done. There is still speculation for a new Story mode DLC (as there were two for GTA IV) more heist missions for GTA online, as well as whatever else Rockstar plans on doing. Stay tuned.

June 18, 2014

Still no heists as it has been delayed until further notice, with “nextgen/PC” releases only four short months away. There really isn’t anything else to say about this, that hasn’t already been said in the past 8 months. So I will not add to the noise about heists.

1.14 introduces another content package called “I’m not a Hispter” which is loaded with hipster-themed stuff. From smart cars, post modern ironic tshirts, and douhebaggery hairstyles. The change log lists all kinds of fixes and changes that either don’t work (for me) or they fixed something in the most bullshit way possible. Let me highlight some and comment on them.

Fixed an exploit where players were able to avoid paying insurance and Bad Sport rating increases

This was done simply by setting off sticky bombs left outside while you were indoors. I used to do this on occasion since it was fun looking out the window of my home blowing people up. I didn’t realize I wasn’t getting a “bad player” rating and not paying any insurance fees. I just did it since it was fun and seemed VERY “GTA-esque” since you kill the iFruit CEO from the comfort of your living room using a remote bomb in Story Mode (spoilers!) So rather than fixing the obvious by GIVING the player a bad sports rating and making them pay the insurance fees, they instead just remove (de-spawn) the sticky bombs you planted outside when you go indoors. LAME!

When a player dies, they now have a chance to detonate any Sticky Bombs they had placed. They must be detonated as soon as the wasted screen appears or they will be deleted.

This doesn’t work. I don’t know if I’m waiting too long or whatever, but if i mash the left-Dpad the moment I’m “wasted” my stickies do not go off. Maybe it’s because I’m in a vehicle when I get wasted? Or is it not left Dpad to set them off? Does it only work when you’re killed by a player, or by an npc?

Non-personal vehicles will now spawn near the player once they have completed a Mission.

This is a weird one. Every time I finish rooftop rumble but as a dead player, I end up miles away at the north east side of the map, by some country house with a pumpkin garden in the back. I’m spawned STANDING inside my vehicle, and there’s a gang attack at that house so if I don’t leave soon I get gunned down.

Player names are now shown on Celebration Screens.

THIS IS awesome but this should also appear when you’re looking at the large map from the Start menu.

Fixed an issue where character stats could increase when using the Friend Spectate option.

Spectating friends was added in the 1.13 update, but this has NEVER appeared when looking at my friends list (in GTA online) and I still don’t see this option in 1.14. Am I looking in the wrong place for this or what?

Fixed an exploit where players could launch cars into the air by driving into gates.

This was listed under “exploits” as if doing this is as bad as money glitching, and RP glitching. Rockstar stated some months ago that they won’t be fixing silly glitches like this since it doesn’t effect anyone in a negative way, it doesn’t give the player any advantage, nor does it effect Rockstar monetarily, as money glitching does. I’m really bothered they fixed something so benign as this, and even MORE upset they listed it as an “exploit.” It’s like Rockstar can’t get anything strait.. they say one thing and months later change it (ahem heists coming out in Spring)

Why didn’t they fix the wall breaches where you can clip your character INSIDE buildings and under bridges and attack and kill everything, including other players, and be virtually immune to cops and other players?

Fixed an exploit where players could repeat the same Bounty multiple times.

According to some new “glitches” posted on Youtube, this can still happen. Matter of fact it seems half the things that occur in GTA online R* claims they “fixed” isn’t fixed.

Fixed an exploit where NPCs would not react when nearby NPCs were being pistol-whipped.

How was this an exploit? What advantage does this give to players pistol whipping NPCs? This is a bug, not an exploit. Oh, Wait a minute. I think i know what this refers too! Players were melee attacking enemy NPC while doing the Rooftop Rumble mission and you could clear out the entire garage just bashing them with your rifle. The way this “exploit” is phrased makes it sound like this happens in free mode, attacking unarmed civilian NPCs.

April 8, 2014

Yes it’s finally live! No longer will you see griefing trolls in creator mode while in a freeroam session. No more God-mode assholes who run around invisible and invulnerable while they drop objects all over the place boxing in players. Loading transition times seem smoother and faster now. Even when spectating other players it no longer takes forever to switch from one player to another player who is across the map. It’s still not instant, but seems to take less than 10 seconds.

One weird bug I found just last night where you try to buzz into your friend’s garage and you get stuck. You cant move, cant move your camera view, you have no radar map, no UI, cant use your phone, and your character is invincible to any damage. At most you can get hit by vehicles and ragdoll all over the place but you still can’t die. It was fun seeing my friend playing virtual kick-the-can down the street with my character but was an annoying bug. The only thing i could do is bring up the Start menu and join another session to get out of it.

All the car exploits have been fixed from copying personal vehicles to bringing in vehicles from story mode. I’ve also read in the past that are de-ranking players who have extremely high ranks who got it from the DNS redirect exploits. I have been seeing a lot of rank 1 players running around in freemode, whom are well dressed, most of them with the high end weapons you can’t get until rank 70. Plus normally any new characters coming into the game will be rank 3 after they do all the tutorial stuff before they enter a public freeroam session. That said I’m still seeing a lot of high ranked players over 500, but everyone knows past 120 is meaningless for the time being.

There are still some remaining gameplay issues that still annoy me. The NPCs still call you and harass you for not doing a job. Simon still sends you a list of cars he wants you to jack and you’ll still get 2-star wanted level when you carjack a Siemon vehicle when you have no intention to take it in for him. This NPC harassment should go away once you’re actually done these jobs a few times (or several), or at least it stops once you’re past a high rank like past 75. The game DOES keep track of what jobs you’ve done already.

On the positive note they did give Lester a new ability you can request for. For $5000 you can have the police ignore your criminal activity and you won’t get a wanted level. I haven’t tried this yet, so i don’t know how long it lasts (my guess is 1 minute) and what limitations there are. For example if i shoot a cop with this function enabled, will i still get a 3-star wanted level? Should be fun to test out. I did notice the 1st time I got on after the TU that players were VERY VERY aggressive towards me; likely due to this feature being turned on. I also assume that there are a lot more players online today now that this update is out, and all the griefing and god-power exploits are removed.

Also the jobs list has been fixed, I can now bring up “Rooftop Rumble” whenever I want too on my higher rank character. I still wanna know when/if/how we can open the 3rd character slot so I can start with a new character?

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Hugsie Needs Help

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